Warman P bass pickups, anyone here use them

[shoulderpet]

Have always been intrigued by these and they seem to have a good reputation however I have noticed that they are a cheapy pickup so it is possible that peoples expectations have adjusted accordingly, so my question is this... Are these good pickups for the price or are they good pickups regardless? 

To use an example lets say you had a passive US Fender P bass, would these be an improvement on the stock pickups or would these be a downgrade?

 

Thanks

[neepheid]

15 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

Have always been intrigued by these and they seem to have a good reputation however I have noticed that they are a cheapy pickup so it is possible that peoples expectations have adjusted accordingly, so my question is this... Are these good pickups for the price or are they good pickups regardless? 

To use an example lets say you had a passive US Fender P bass, would these be an improvement on the stock pickups or would these be a downgrade?

 

Thanks

 

I have no experience with these pickups so I can't comment on their quality, relative to anything.

 

I would say that no pickup change is automatically an "improvement" or a "downgrade".  It's completely subjective and it's got nothing to do with how much the pickup costs.

 

To my mind though, I wouldn't be maybe-ing around on a US Fender.  If someone really wants to experiment it might be a wiser idea to obtain a beater Squier P and muck around with that.

 

Thanks for the link BTW - I'm hatching a plan to (re)passify my Epiphone Les Paul bass next year - it has guitar humbucker sized pickups and that Warman Drivetrain quad coil monster will definitely be added to the list for consideration

 

[shoulderpet]

25 minutes ago, neepheid said:

I would say that no pickup change is automatically an "improvement" or a "downgrade".  It's completely subjective and it's got nothing to do with how much the pickup costs.

That is true but you get some pickups in the lower price range where no thought seems to have gone into them and there objective seems to be just to wind something that makes a sound as cheaply as possible and some that actually seem to have some thought and care put into them (like Toneriders for example), if Warman falls into the latter category they could be a real bargain

 

Also hoping someone can weigh in on how they sound tonally what kind of tonal character they have etc

Edited July 13, 2022 by shoulderpet

[neepheid]

1 hour ago, shoulderpet said:

That is true but you get some pickups in the lower price range where no thought seems to have gone into them and there objective seems to be just to wind something that makes a sound as cheaply as possible and some that actually seem to have some thought and care put into them (like Toneriders for example), if Warman falls into the latter category they could be a real bargain

 

Also hoping someone can weigh in on how they sound tonally what kind of tonal character they have etc

 

 

We are talking about a £16.99 pickup - just buy it and write it off if it's no good?  I'm sure good bunch of folk on here have spent more than that on a few pints during a not too boisterous night out and had absolutely nothing to show for it except the experience.  If you share your experience of this pickup with folk here then you'll have done the community a service, regardless of whether or not you liked the pickup.

 

And it might be amazing!

 

[PaulThePlug]

7 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

 

We are talking about a £16.99 pickup - just buy it and write it off if it's no good?

I undetstand your thinking, but if €£$ is a consideration, it is for me, thats £16 down the drain, and maybe half the cost of a better upgrade.

Lot of love for the Warman and Wilkinson, but are these simply Badged cheapies? Dunno.

Recent posts and love for the Entwhistle... check ya enough room, and i think the ears are wider...

Also Kent Armstrong via WDMusic

And keep an eye on the FS here.

Upgrading a Squier or something, but swapping on a US Fender might just be a change...

[neepheid]

17 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

I undetstand your thinking, but if €£$ is a consideration, it is for me, thats £16 down the drain, and maybe half the cost of a better upgrade.

Lot of love for the Warman and Wilkinson, but are these simply Badged cheapies? Dunno.

Recent posts and love for the Entwhistle... check ya enough room, and i think the ears are wider...

Also Kent Armstrong via WDMusic

And keep an eye on the FS here.

Upgrading a Squier or something, but swapping on a US Fender might just be a change...

 

Could probably flog it for a tenner if you don't like it?  Net cost of £7?  Have I negotiated that below your cost floor of experimentation, or do you have any Scottish blood in you?

 

 

 

[Maude]

8 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

Thanks for the link BTW - I'm hatching a plan to (re)passify my Epiphone Les Paul bass next year - it has guitar humbucker sized pickups and that Warman Drivetrain quad coil monster will definitely be added to the list for consideration

 

 

I have a pair of Drivetrain pickups sat in my parts drawer waiting for a worthy project. 

The Firebuckers would be a good fit for the Epiphone. 

 

I don't have experience of the P pickup but I've tried a couple of different Warman pickups and like them. 

I'd say good pickups, not just good for the money. 

 

[neepheid]

15 hours ago, Maude said:

 

I have a pair of Drivetrain pickups sat in my parts drawer waiting for a worthy project. 

The Firebuckers would be a good fit for the Epiphone. 

 

I don't have experience of the P pickup but I've tried a couple of different Warman pickups and like them. 

I'd say good pickups, not just good for the money. 

 

 

Well, I'm still active in the Gear abstinence thread and if all goes to plan I won't be acting upon this until 2023, so there's plenty of time for you to use those Drivetrains for something and let me know how you get on

 

Firebuckers are mini humbuckers - too small (and probably 6 distinct poles rather than rails).  The Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass takes regular sized guitar humbucker shaped pickups, mounted into rings just like the skinny stringed guitars.  If I was going to choose Warman it would have to be the Drivetrain or perhaps the Warblades.

Edited July 14, 2022 by neepheid

[NancyJohnson]

I've used Josi Warman's pickups in several projects, zebra humbuckers, regular humbuckers, P-94s and, most importantly in consideration of the OP, Jazz bass and Precision bass pickups.

 

Absolutely no issues with them and I'd wager (with some certainty) that nobody would be able to tell the difference between these and any other make/specification.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  I don't care where they're from or whether they're rebadged far-eastern knockoffs.  They're cheap and cheerful and they work.  If you don't like the Warman logo on the pickup cover, just buy new blank covers, scuff them up and tell people they're vintage 70s DiMarzios if it'll make you feel happier..  No one will be able to tell the difference.

[shoulderpet]

12 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I've used Josi Warman's pickups in several projects, zebra humbuckers, regular humbuckers, P-94s and, most importantly in consideration of the OP, Jazz bass and Precision bass pickups.

 

Absolutely no issues with them and I'd wager (with some certainty) that nobody would be able to tell the difference between these and any other make/specification.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  I don't care where they're from or whether they're rebadged far-eastern knockoffs.  They're cheap and cheerful and they work.  If you don't like the Warman logo on the pickup cover, just buy new blank covers, scuff them up and tell people they're vintage 70s DiMarzios if it'll make you feel happier..  No one will be able to tell the difference.

Thanks, what side of the spectrum do they fall on tonally? Interested to hear if they are the classic round P bass tone or if they are on the gnarlier end of the spectrum, tone is the thing that matters to me, at the price these go for I will order one

Edited July 14, 2022 by shoulderpet

[NancyJohnson]

15 hours ago, shoulderpet said:

Thanks, what side of the spectrum do they fall on tonally? Interested to hear if they are the classic round P bass tone or if they are on the gnarlier end of the spectrum, tone is the thing that matters to me, at the price these go for I will order one

 

I'm not the type of person that wants to get drawn into whether they pop, ponk or shizzle; pickups for me are just a means to transfer sound from your bass to your amp...I've put all manner of pickups into basses, strat pickups, humbuckers, P90s; none of them really make that much of a difference.  For maybe 25 years I've been using outboard processing (generally @Tech21NYCkit - BDDI/VTBass/RPI/dUg/Geddystuff/GT2), this stuff will help you dial in just about anything, irrespective of the pickups you use.

 

Josi's stuff is great value and works.  Buy one, if you don't like it, sell it here, spend seven times more on something else and then wonder whether using that money against a used BDDI might have been a better option.

 

 

 

[bloke_zero]

On 14/07/2022 at 17:03, shoulderpet said:

Thanks, what side of the spectrum do they fall on tonally? Interested to hear if they are the classic round P bass tone or if they are on the gnarlier end of the spectrum, tone is the thing that matters to me, at the price these go for I will order one

 

I'd say they are full range, clean and modern sounding - not classic round.

[fleabag]

I swapped out a Wilkinson  MM pickup for a Warman MM and it was superb.  I know its not specifically a P but if it's the quality of Warman pickups you're insterested in, have no fear

[PaulThePlug]

For Info my Entwistle JBX has 'Artec' on the inside of the cover... Artec produce pickups for OE manufacturers and by the looks of it other 'brands'...

[shoulderpet]

20 hours ago, bloke_zero said:

 

I'd say they are full range, clean and modern sounding - not classic round.

Interesting, I don't think I have ever used a P bass pickup that fits that description, I might have to give them a try on that alone.

 

The other pickup I am intrigued by is this Guyker P bass rail pickup which is around £30.00, I think I will give both a try, they are both cheap enough

 

 

[bloke_zero]

I definitely think it's worth trying them out - I was trying them out vs an EMG geezer butler and a handwound boutique 70's style PU and they all sounded totally different. I didn't feel like they sounded better or worse than each other but the Warman was, like I say, very full range and clear, the Geezer rounded, mid focused and the boutique was hard to describe - sort of scooped lower mid with extra low end.

 

The magnet material seemed to be a lot of the sound - the other 2 were alnico 5 and the Warman ceramic - from their site:

Quote

Warman pickups use ceramic magnets as these are even brighter than Alnico V or III

 

In the end I went with a dimarzio split-P wired parallel which sounds totally different again, but felt right for the application. Obviously the signal chain will make a lot of difference. I'm a firm believer in getting the foundation tone right for you so that its easier to get the right tone at the end of the chain. But I think that's a lot more important for some kinds of music than others!

[shoulderpet]

44 minutes ago, bloke_zero said:

I definitely think it's worth trying them out - I was trying them out vs an EMG geezer butler and a handwound boutique 70's style PU and they all sounded totally different. I didn't feel like they sounded better or worse than each other but the Warman was, like I say, very full range and clear, the Geezer rounded, mid focused and the boutique was hard to describe - sort of scooped lower mid with extra low end.

 

The magnet material seemed to be a lot of the sound - the other 2 were alnico 5 and the Warman ceramic - from their site:

 

In the end I went with a dimarzio split-P wired parallel which sounds totally different again, but felt right for the application. Obviously the signal chain will make a lot of difference. I'm a firm believer in getting the foundation tone right for you so that its easier to get the right tone at the end of the chain. But I think that's a lot more important for some kinds of music than others!

That sounds interesting, I feel like with most P pickups if for example you compare to a J or other single coil there is usually a steep drop off of the highest frequencies, it seems like most P pickups get any brightness they have from the high mids/low treble area so full range sounds interesting

[rmorris]

On 15/07/2022 at 09:00, NancyJohnson said:

 

I'm not the type of person that wants to get drawn into whether they pop, ponk or shizzle; pickups for me are just a means to transfer sound from your bass to your amp...I've put all manner of pickups into basses, strat pickups, humbuckers, P90s; none of them really make that much of a difference.  For maybe 25 years I've been using outboard processing (generally @Tech21NYCkit - BDDI/VTBass/RPI/dUg/Geddystuff/GT2), this stuff will help you dial in just about anything, irrespective of the pickups you use.

 

 

 

Good deal of truth there. Although I'll add that if a pickup isn't "getting" some frequencies in the first place then that does affect how you can process the signal.

Typically you can hear this with a passive "P" pickup vs a passive "J" type, where the "P" type doesn't give you the top end frequencies of the "J".

Additionally "hot" pickups - ie more windings, more inductance - will tend to have a more restricted frequency response.

Beyond that there is noise immunity (or lack of) to consider.

fwiw I put a Warman MM type into an old Ibanez ATK200 where the original pickup had become very microphonic when tapped.

Works fine with good tone.

[NancyJohnson]

3 hours ago, rmorris said:

 

Good deal of truth there. Although I'll add that if a pickup isn't "getting" some frequencies in the first place then that does affect how you can process the signal.

Typically you can hear this with a passive "P" pickup vs a passive "J" type, where the "P" type doesn't give you the top end frequencies of the "J".

Additionally "hot" pickups - ie more windings, more inductance - will tend to have a more restricted frequency response.

Beyond that there is noise immunity (or lack of) to consider.

fwiw I put a Warman MM type into an old Ibanez ATK200 where the original pickup had become very microphonic when tapped.

Works fine with good tone.

 

I've been as guilty as many here in being of the belief that all these expensive/ridiculous tweaks we do will somehow make a ton of difference to how we sound; tonally, there's so many facets in play - everything within the entire signal path, from string choice (and freshness thereof) through to the speakers in your rig - will have an effect, plus you need to factor in the tone you create from you hands.  (A couple of years back, I used flats for the first time in about 40 years...they didn't sound that different to rounds once I'd tinkered with things.)  I'd wager Geddy Lee would sound different from me if I simply gave him a bass I'd just been using.  In my entire journey, I've only played one bass that seemed to sound different from everything else and that was a Rickenbacker 4003, everything else?  All a bit meh and samey, irrespective of cost point/claims.

 

The pursuit of tone is personal and subjective.  It's well documented on this site what my desired tone is and I can get this easily enough from any bass I own.  The most important element of my set up is the Geddy/dUg stomps that sit between the bass and my amp.  That's it.  I wish people could just grasp that pickups, nut widths, hi-mass bridges, etc etc mean nothing.  We just love to tweak things!

 

 

 

[shoulderpet]

Just an update on this, I have ordered a Warman p pickup,

 

I recently had my p bass routed for a bridge pickup and wanted something that would give that scoopy typical pj tone so I went with an ultra jazz (which sounds great btw),

 

I was looking at p pickups and wanted something modern sounding as a lot of p pickups have a tonne of bass and low mids and not much top end, the Warman being described as full range, clean and modern sounding and being inexpensive seems like a good choice .

[shoulderpet]

And have received the Warman p pickup and fitted it, it was between that, a Dimarzio model p and a Dimarzio split p but I chose the Warman over the Dimarzio because the Dimarzio p pickups are known to be a little shy in the treble frequencies.

 

Anyway, fitted it and I like it a lot so far, this is not a dull,thumpy SPB1 type of pickup(I detest the SPB1 btw) this seems to have a very full range sound, almost like a single coil in a split p format (still not quite as bright as a single coil but the highs don't rapidly drop off like most p pickups), works well with the Ultra jazz in the bridge position too.

Edited November 25, 2022 by shoulderpet

[PaulThePlug]

Brighter Tone... Ceramic rather than Alnico?

Edited November 25, 2022 by PaulThePlug

[neepheid]

Interesting - thanks for the info.  In the new year (once I get to the end of my gear-free 2022), I will be looking to make my Epiphone Les Paul Standard passive once more.  For this, I need guitar humbucker (PAF) sized pickups.  Warman are on my radar - the Drivetrain quad coil is interesting to me ("but its equally at home in a bass") but any of their guitar humbuckers if they're beefy enough might do a job.

[Maude]

I've got a pair of Drivetrains here ready for a project, just not decided what they're going in yet. 

I bought a Crafter Cruiser for twenty quid a while back which actually plays surprisingly nicely, it may well be getting a full on make over with the Drivetrains. 

 

 

I've just realised I've already said the above, even further above 😁. 

Edited November 25, 2022 by Maude

[shoulderpet]

48 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Brighter Tone... Ceramic rather than Alnico?

They are Ceramic, I think that and that they are wound to around 8k rather than the standard 10-11k probably does it